


Ring

by Inkandquills, writersstudy



Series: Inktober 2019 [1]
Category: WAYV
Genre: Inktober 2019, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-11-16 14:47:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20846660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkandquills/pseuds/Inkandquills, https://archiveofourown.org/users/writersstudy/pseuds/writersstudy
Summary: Welcome to Inktober 2019, Day One!Prompt: RingGroup: WayVPairing: Kun/TenA: Kun loves Ten, but his love is on a deadline.M: Ten's on a mission to make Kun enjoy Halloween as much as he does.[[PLEASE NOTE THAT WE, THE AUTHORS, HAVE NOT GIVEN PERMISSION FOR THIS WORK TO BE RE-POSTED ANYWHERE EXCEPT DIRECTLY ON AO3. IF YOU SEE THIS WORK ANYWHERE ELSE, PLEASE REPORT IT FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT AND NOTIFY US AT LIVING.LENIENTLY@GMAIL.COM. THANK YOU.]]





	1. Ashlee

**Author's Note:**

> We're excited to flex our multifandom skills and challenge ourselves to some solo writing after over a year and a half of writing together. More details on the series page!

Kun was overwhelmingly nervous and he was sure that Ten could tell. They were out on a dinner date at a nice upscale restaurant, something very becoming of Kun and his royal status. Kun was the crown prince of the kingdom of Onyx and the date of his coronation had finally been set. However, he needed to be married before he could take the throne, which was where Ten came in.

They had been friends since childhood and lovers since adolescence. Ten’s father was a dignitary from another kingdom and his son had been sent to Onyx to study to become a diplomat after his father stepped down. He and Kun had always been close and it wasn’t really a shock anyone when they began dating. 

“Is everything okay?” Ten asked, reaching across the table to take Kun’s hand. The prince held his hand gently. 

“Yes, darling, I’m fine,” he replied. While they were in a private area of the restaurant, they were still a bit too exposed for him to be entirely comfortable with the show he was about to put on. At least he still had two courses of dinner left to get through first. It wasn’t often that they got to go out like this, so it was nice to just spend time with Ten without either of their advisors hanging over their shoulders. 

Finally, they reached dessert and Kun could put it off no longer. He had to do this tonight and with somewhat of a public eye on them. 

“They finally set a date for my coronation,” he said. Ten looked up, eyes wide.

“They did? Kun, that’s amazing!” Ten praised, smiling widely. 

“I can’t do it alone though,” he said. He pulled the box out of his pocket and set it on the table. Ten’s eyes were drawn to the box as Kun opened it, showing off the glittering sapphire and silver ring.

“So what are you saying?” he asked slowly.

“I want us to get married,” Kun said, “but if you’re not ready, Ten…” He trailed off, not wanting to make the statement out loud.

“Are you?” Ten asked pointedly. Kun sighed. 

“I am,” he said firmly. Ten sighed and closed the box.

“Don’t ask me until you’re actually ready,” he said.

Kun didn’t have that luxury anymore. “Ten, I’ve wanted to marry you since we were kids,” he protested. He hated how quick this all had to be. They would have less than two months to do everything, and he knew Ten really wanted to be able to plan everything himself. He wished they were able to go at their own pace, but that wasn’t an option anymore and he hated it.

“It sounds to me like you’re not actually ready to marry me,” Ten said dubiously. Kun’s eyes widened and immediately shook his head.

“That’s not it, Ten, I promise,” he said, “I love you so much, and I’m so excited to marry you.”

“Kun, I love you too, but this clearly isn’t the right timing,” Ten said gently, reaching for Kun’s hand, “we don’t need to rush into anything. Just...put the ring away and try again when it actually feels right.” Ten pulled his hand away. Kun’s chest ached as he reached for the ring box and put it back into his pocket. Never in his life had he expected Ten to say no. He would never be able to handle being married to someone else. As he laid his card out to pay for dinner, he resolved to keep trying. He only had a week.

Kun asked Ten over for a date every night that week. First, it was movies and pizza in his private quarters. They’d watched a romcom and Kun had attempted to propose right after it finished, down on one knee and everything, but Ten had rejected him again. He wasn’t really saying no; he was simply telling Kun to try harder, do better, so he did.

The second date was a night out to a festival. Kun tried to propose under the glow of fireworks, but Ten just gave him another disappointed look and brushed him off. The next few nights were the same, from cooking together to a night out dancing to a picnic lunch on the weekend. Every time, Ten rejected him and, every time, Kun grew more and more despondent. What if Ten never said yes? Then he’d be forced to marry some princess his father picked out and always live knowing that he let Ten get away. 

It was after the picnic date that Ten finally snapped.

“Why the hell do you keep trying to do this?” he asked as soon as they had made it back to his quarters, “the timing clearly isn’t right for either of us, so I don’t understand why you’re being so insistent.”

“I told you, Ten, I really, really want to marry you,” Kun said, dodging around the real reason. 

“Clearly, you don’t!” Ten replied, “not once have you been sincere and genuine when you’ve asked me. I don’t ask you for much, Kunnie, but I can’t stand you acting like this is some obligation for you.” Kun winced. Ten was right. He hadn’t made much of an effort to make his proposals genuine, because he’d been so consumed by the stress of making sure Ten said yes.

“Baby, we have all the time in the world,” Ten said, softer, as he approached Kun, “it doesn’t have to be now.” Kun bit his lip. 

“You can just say that you don’t want to marry me, Tennie,” he said quietly, pulling away, “I won’t be angry.” He would be upset, certainly, but he could never truly be mad at Ten.

“I do, Kunnie, I do, so desperately,” Ten insisted, “but it doesn’t seem like you’re ready. We’ll be different people a few months or years down the line and maybe we’ll both be ready then, but I don’t want to rush into this and ruin our relationship.”

“I _ am _ ready,” Kun said, “but I’ve been so worried that you won’t say yes, Ten. I don’t know what I would do if I lost you.”

“I’m not leaving, baby,” Ten said, “I just think we need more time.”

“I don’t _ have _ time!” Kun finally snapped, “I barely have twelve hours, let alone twelve months, Ten!”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Ten asked sharply. Kun sighed and dropped onto the bed. 

“I have to get married before the coronation,” he said quietly, “but if I don’t have my own betrothed lined up by tomorrow at noon, my father will choose someone for me and I won’t get a second chance to have my person.”

“Why wouldn’t you tell me that, Kun?” Ten asked incredulously, “of course I would have said yes if I knew that!”

“Exactly,” Kun said hollowly, “I didn’t want to trap you in a marriage that you felt obligated to agree to. I could never live with myself if I did that to you and left you miserable for the rest of your life. I mean, for all I know, this entire relationship has been something political. I love you, Ten, and I refuse to force you to be unhappy for the rest of your life.” Ten was stunned quiet. He wanted to be angry that Kun had hid this from him and tried to handle this entirely on his own, but he couldn’t find the anger in himself.

“I wanted to wait,” Kun continued, tears starting to gather in his eyes, “I wanted to do everything how we planned it, how we wanted it, but I don’t have that choice anymore, Tennie, and I don’t want to lose you. You’re the love of my life a-and I would rather marry s-someone else and be m-miserable myself than ever let you be unhappy.” He was full on sobbing now, face hidden in his palms. 

“Qian Kun, you’re an idiot,” Ten announced, making Kun look up at him in shock. He swiped the ring box off the nightstand and knelt down in front of his boyfriend.

“You’re an idiot if you think I’d ever stand by and watch you get married to someone else,” he said softer, “I have been an asshole while you have been going through so much and I’m so sorry, baby. I love you, now and forever, this life and the next. I’ll always be yours, as long as you’ll have me. Kunnie, baby, please, will you marry me?” He popped the ring box open and Kun sobbed again. This time, it was all happy tears. 

“God, Ten, of course,” he cried. Ten grinned and pulled the ring out of the box. He tried to put it on Kun’s finger before the prince pulled his hand away, laughing and wiping at tears.

“It’s yours, stupid,” he said, “remember?” He took the ring from Ten with shaky hands and slid it on his fiance’s left ring finger. Ten looked down at it with a happy grin before looking back up and kissing Kun deeply, knocking his fiance onto his back on the bed.

“I’ll always be with you, through everything,” the younger man said softly, “I love you, _ my king _.”


	2. Michelle

“Kunnie, guess what day it is?” Ten singsonged as he waltzed into their apartment. Kun clicked his phone on and glanced at it.

“Tuesday?” he replied, slightly confused. 

“No, no. What’s today’s date?” Ten asked with a shake of his head. 

“The first,” Kun said slowly. He was getting more and more confused. What was his boyfriend up to now?

“Of what month?” Ten prodded, a small grin on his face. 

“October,” Kun said deadpan, “Ten, what is this about?”

“And do you know what that means?” Ten asked, ignoring the second half of Kun’s reply.

Kun sighed and threw his hands up. “No, I don’t know what that means. Can you stop acting like a cryptid and get to the point already?” he asked, slightly exasperated.

“We can go buy Halloween decorations today! You promised me that we could get some this year but we had to wait until the first and now it’s here!” Ten said excitedly. His small grin widened into a large smile. 

Kun rubbed his forehead. “Do we really have to go today? I’m exhausted and I just want to eat dinner and go lay down,” he said tiredly.

“But you promised we could go get decorations,” Ten said with a pout. 

“Yeah, when you brought up getting decorations for Halloween in June, I kinda didn’t think you would remember me promising to go out right on the first,” Kun admitted. 

Ten crossed his arms childishly. “I’m going tomorrow with or without you,” he said. 

“Oh, it’s definitely going to be with me. I don’t trust you at all,” Kun said, “now get over here. You’ve been home for twenty minutes and you haven’t even given me a kiss yet.”

Ten walked across the room and leaned down to give Kun a kiss. At the last minute, he changed his trajectory and landed his kiss on his boyfriend’s cheek instead of his lips. “I’ll give you a real kiss when I get my decorations,” he bargained, leaving Kun to be the one pouting. 

“I’m going to take a shower,” Ten called over his shoulder as he skipped down the hall. Kun shook his head and pushed himself to stand up. By the time he had set the table and reheated some leftovers, Ten had reappeared. Dinner was as per usual, Ten continued his decoration antics, describing in incredible detail how each corner of the apartment was going to be filled.

“You know, you haven’t mentioned any fruit themed decorations,” Kun said, off-handedly, “is that too scary for ya?”

Ten frowned. “Fruit is horrifying and you know we don’t allow it in our house. The only exception I’ll make are pumpkins. Wait! We should carve jack-o-lanterns!” he suggested excitedly. Kun’s eyes widened. 

“Whoa, no, no, no. That’s going to make a mess. We don’t even have anything to carve a pumpkin with and where would we put them?” Kun asked.

“We can carve them right here in the kitchen. It’s not like we haven’t made a big mess in here before. We can get fake candles so they can stay lit all day long. And! And I know this is going to be an out of the box idea but we can put them in the windows. Or on the coffee table or on the nightstand,” Ten rattled off.

“No. That’s where I draw the line. They’re going to rot and smell and I really don’t want to deal with that mess,” Kun said tiredly, “I’ll let you have anything else but no real pumpkins.” 

Ten sat back with crossed arms and a smirk. “I’ll get you to crack,” he promised.

“No, you will not,” Kun said. He stood up from the couch and dropped his dishes in the sink. “It’s your night to wash up,” he reminded Ten. Ten huffed. 

“You’re so grumpy today,” he commented. He jumped up when Kun shot him a glare and hurried to clean up the kitchen. 

After a movie and some cuddling on the couch, Ten finally got Kun to lighten up a little. He was determined to get his boyfriend to enjoy Halloween if it killed him, and he was even more determined to get Kun to let them carve pumpkins. The following day, Ten actually got home before Kun for once and was waiting by the door to pounce on his boyfriend the moment he got home.

“Whoa! Oh my god, hi. Can I come into our apartment before you knock me over?” Kun asked when Ten all but tackled him in the doorway. 

“I missed you,” Ten said, not making any moves to let go.

“Did you really? Or have you just been waiting to go shopping?” Kun asked with a raised eyebrow.

Ten giggled quietly and tightened his grip. “I really missed you,” he half lied, leaning up to give Kun a kiss to prove his point.

Kun rolled his eyes and continued to slowly make his way around the apartment. Toeing his shoes off and setting his briefcase by the door were fine, but shedding his coat was a whole other issue with Ten clinging to him. 

“The longer you cling on to me, the longer it’s gonna take for me to get ready to go,” Kun said pointedly.

Ten huffed and let go, all but shoving Kun down the hallway. “Hurry up! I want my decorations!” he whined. 

Kun rolled his eyes and obediently headed down the hallway. Fifteen minutes later, he was showered, changed, and, albeit reluctantly, ready to go. Against his better judgement, he let Ten drive them to the first store. He sighed heavily when they finally found a parking spot. And so it began. Ten leapt out of the car and all but dragged Kun inside.

“Come on, the Halloween section is this way!” the younger man said excitedly. 

Kun shook his head and followed Ten through the store. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Halloween, it just wasn’t his holiday of choice. He much preferred the cheeriness of Christmas to the frightening, and sometimes even disturbing, qualities of Halloween. Nevertheless, they had been living together in their apartment for quite a few years now and they hadn’t bought any Halloween decorations. Ten had been begging him for years and he supposed it was only fair. He was so busy spacing out that he hadn’t even realized they reached the Halloween section until Ten let out an excited whoop.

Ten walked slowly down the aisle, pressing every button he could get his hands out. One decoration let out such a loud screech that Kun nearly jumped out of his skin. “We’re not getting anything obnoxious like that,” he warned. Ten pouted but kept walking down the aisle. “What about this for the door?” he asked, holding up a small skeleton that dangled from a string. “Sure,” Kun agreed. As long as it didn’t make noise out of the blue, he was fine with it.

Ten beamed and put the skeleton into the cart. He also added some blinking ghost lights, a candy bowl where a hand would grab you if you reached into it, and a little haunted house that lit up. Kun followed behind his boyfriend, keeping an eye on how much he was putting in the cart. He hoped Ten would stop on his own but that was evidently not the case.

“Alright, that’s enough,” Kun said when Ten reached for some pumpkins, “you’re officially cut off. We don’t have that much room as it is and we have nowhere to store all of this stuff.”

“You know Sicheng would let us keep some at his house,” Ten said, not letting go of the pumpkin yet. 

“I’m sure he would, but I don’t want to have to drive a car full of Halloween decorations back and forth every year,” Kun said, “now come on, I think we have enough for this year.”

Ten pouted and reluctantly put the pumpkin back down. He would have to come get them when Kun wasn’t with him.

Kun was skeptical when Ten came without a fight. He knew his boyfriend was plotting something and he was not looking forward to the outcome. The rest of the shopping trip was uneventful and within the hour, they were back home. Of course, waiting until the morning to decorate the apartment was not going to fly so Kun, despite his better judgement, went to go lay down and left Ten to his own devices. When he woke up in the morning, he got ready for work and hesitantly wandered into the living room and was surprised by how different the apartment looked. The decorations were placed strategically around the room, with the bowl sitting on the coffee table, already holding some snacks, and the lights and fake cobwebs hung from the ceiling. 

“Tennie, this actually looks really good,” Kun commented as he looked around.

“I told you it would!” Ten said excitedly. He had definitely stayed up a little too late to put everything up but it was worth it. “We should invited everyone over tonight to see it,” he suggested.

“Oh yeah, that would be nice. I’ll try to sneak out early so I can pick up some stuff to make dinner. You text them and make sure they don’t come too early. I gotta run,” Kun said. He kissed Ten on the cheek before reluctantly heading off to work. Thankfully, his day went pretty fast and soon enough he was back home. No sooner did he start dinner than did Ten walk in, so he recruited his boyfriend’s help and soon enough dinner was on the table and their friends were waltzing in the door.

“Whoa, it looks like a haunted house in here,” Yangyang said excitedly when he walked in. He was immediately distracted and wandered around the apartment, with Hendery on his heels, looking at everything and turning on every decoration that had a button. Between the sounds of the different decorations and the talking, Kun knew he would end up with a headache by the end of the night. But seeing Ten excitedly explaining everything he bought to Sicheng, made it all worth it. The noise really didn’t amp up until Lucas and Xiaojun arrived and added to the button pressing. Somehow, Kun managed to wrangle everyone away from the decorations in favor of getting some food and there was finally some peace and quiet while everyone ate.

“You know, even with all the decorations you have it feels like something’s missing,” Xiaojun commented. 

“Yeah! How do you not have  _ any  _ jack-o-lanterns in here?” Hendery piped up. Kun shook his head and looked at Ten. 

“How much did you pay them to say that?” he asked.

“Absolutely nothing,” Ten said, smiling and leaning back with his hands behind his head. Kun rolled his eyes.

The rest of the evening went as per usual with the boys. There were laughs, a few smacks to the arm, and only one near miss with one of the decorations. Kun loved hanging out with his family and was actually sad when they had to go back home. By the time he laid down in Ten’s arms that night, he was absolutely exhausted. 

“That was a lot of fun,” he mumbled tiredly.

“Yeah, it was nice to see them all. And we’ll see them again at Sicheng’s in a couple weeks,” Ten said. Kun hummed. 

“Night, Tennie,” he said quietly. And with that he was out like a light. 

Kun almost always expected the worst when he came home, but nothing could prepare him for coming home to find four pumpkins sitting on the kitchen table with various knives around them.

“Ten, what did you do!?” he called down the hallway tiredly.

Ten walked back into the kitchen wearing an apron and a proud smile. “Ta da! I got us some pumpkins to carve. And I already cleaned out the insides so the hard part is done. Come on you look like you had a long day,” he said. He grabbed Kun’s hand and dragged him to sit down. Kun didn’t fight it. He supposed he didn’t have a choice now so he might as well make the most out of it. Ten handed his boyfriend a knife and sat down opposite of him. 

“Alright, the first one is gonna be nice and simple. Just a generic face,” Ten explained as he started to cut into his.

Kun shook his head. “I cannot believe you went out and got pumpkins anyway when I specifically said I didn’t want them,” he said. He wasn’t mad at Ten; how could he be? But this was definitely not how he planned on spending his night.

“Because I knew you would have fun once you tried it,” Ten said easily, “and I promise I’ll get rid of them the moment they start rotting.”

“Fine, fine,” Kun agreed. He looked between his pumpkin and the knife before carefully making the first cut. Within no time, he was completely immersed in carving his pumpkin and was actually a little sad when he finished.

Ten chuckled when he saw Kun’s pout when his boyfriend turned his pumpkin around.

“What are you so upset about?” he asked.

“It’s done,” Kun said, still pouting, “and I’m mad that you were right.”

Ten laughed and stood up so he could kiss Kun’s pout. “Do you trust me now?” he asked.

Kun nodded petulantly. He moved his pumpkin to the side next to Ten’s and grabbed another one.

“What are you going to do for this one, Kunnie?” Ten asked. He grabbed the last pumpkin for himself and set it down. He stared at it for a moment wondering if his idea was going to work. 

“I don’t know. I think I’m just going to do another face,” Kun replied.

“That’s so boring,” Ten teased.

“Well if you’re so good what are you going to do?” Kun countered.

“I think I’m gonna try a haunted house,” Ten said. That wasn’t quite true but Kun didn’t need to know that yet.

They both got to work again after that. Despite the jokes, laughing, and small pieces of pumpkin getting strewn across their table and floor, Ten was actually getting more and more nervous. At one point, they fell into a comfortable silence and Ten glanced up over the pumpkins at Kun. His boyfriend had his eyes furrowed in concentration and was completely immersed in his carving. Kun really was so adorable. Ten glanced down at his own pumpkin and knew he was making the right decision. A little while later, they both had finished and were ready to show them off. Kun turned his around and was quite proud at how much better this one turned out than his first one.

“I wanna see yours, Tennie!” Kun whined childishly. He couldn’t believe how quickly his attitude about carving jack-o-lanterns had changed. 

“Close your eyes,” Ten requested. Kun huffed but obediently closed his eyes. Ten turned his pumpkin around and watched Kun nervously.

“Okay, open.”

Kun eyes flew open and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Tennie, what happened to your haunted house? Why did you make a...a ring?” he asked. His eyes glanced around the pumpkin trying to make sure they weren’t playing tricks on him.. His eyes finally landed on the box that Ten must have put out when his eyes were closed. 

“Tennie…” he breathed. He looked up at his boyfriend with glassy eyes. He couldn’t believe what was happening.

Ten opened the box to reveal the gold band sitting inside. “I’ve been wanting to ask you for a while and I know Halloween really isn’t your thing, but I couldn’t wait any longer. I just love you so much and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you m-” He was cut off when Kun’s lips were suddenly on his own.

“Is that a yes?” Ten breathed when they pulled apart. 

“Of course it’s a yes,” Kun said excitedly. The moment the ring was on his finger, he leaned forward and kissed Ten again. Maybe Halloween was his favorite holiday after all. 


End file.
